Reports: San Jose State, Utah State to join Mountain West in 2013

By Kevin Kelley -

MWCSan Jose State and Utah State appear to be headed for the Mountain West Conference in 2013, several sources have reported.

Although nothing is official yet, multiple sources told The Salt Lake Tribune that Utah State will join the MWC next year and that an official announcement could come in 7-10 days. The Aggies have been a member of the WAC since 2005.

USU athletics director declined to call it a “done deal,” but did tell the Tribune that “things have progressed even since yesterday.”

The San Jose State Spartans are also expected to receive an invitation to join the Mountain West, the San Jose State Mercury News reported on Sunday. Their invitation could come this week with a formal announcement to follow afterwards.

With San Jose State and Utah State now rumored to be moving on, the WAC’s days as a football conference could be numbered. Over the weekend, news broke that new WAC member UTSA was likely headed to Conference USA, along with the possibility of Louisiana Tech.

That would leave the WAC with just three football members: Idaho, New Mexico State and Texas State. With the Sun Belt possibly losing FIU and North Texas to C-USA, they could snap up two of those three. Idaho and New Mexico State were members of the SBC from 2001-04.

With the most recent news, here is what Conference USA and the Mountain West could look like for football in 2013:

Conference USA

East Carolina, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, UTEP, UTSA

Mountain West

Air Force, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming

Comments (4)

Yeah…..it was good while it lasted. Just glad SJSU found a home amid some established rivalries.

I don’t see why they don’t add Idaho at this point? It gets you another state now that BS is gone!

Add both Idaho and New Mexico State and then you have a 12 team conference. You also add the New Mexico/New Mexico State rivalry. Can split into two divisions. One with Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Utah State and Wyoming. The other with Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, San Jose State, and UNLV.